ATP Shenzhen Open: Andy Murray through but top seed David Ferrer eliminated

Andy Murray continued his quest to reach the season-ending ATP World Tour finals by booking his place in the quarter-finals of the Shenzhen Open in China.

The Scot started the week in 11th place in the race to reach the finals, with only the top eight guaranteed a place at the lucrative event at the O2 Arena in November.

His desire to qualify took him to Shenzhen where he began his campaign with a comfortable 6-3 6-3 win over India's Somdev Devvarman on Thursday.

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Second seed Murray proved a cut above his world number 141-ranked opponent, breaking twice in the first set without reply.

Devvarman rallied to break the Scot in the second but Murray converted both of his own break point opportunities to move through in one hour and 21 minutes.

In the quarter-finals Murray will play Slovakian world No 85 Lukas Lacko, who beat Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-4 7-6 (7-1).

Murray said: "I thought I did pretty well. He (Devvarman) makes very few mistakes - he's a solid player and he moves well.

"It was very humid out there. It was good to have a tough workout like that."

Top seed David Ferrer suffered an upset as he was beaten 6-3 6-4 by Serbian qualifier Viktor Troicki, who fired 13 aces on his way to victory in just 55 minutes.

Colombian sixth seed Santiago Giraldo ended the run of 18-year-old Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-4 6-3.